Georgia, Alabama rank 1-2 in first playoff standings

Georgia already has wins against Notre Dame and No. 16 Mississippi State. Being undefeated to the committee means nothing if you aren't playing multiple good teams. Ohio State is No. 3 in the Associated Press poll, five spots ahead of the Sooners. Penn State is at No. 7 in both the AP and CFB rankings.

"For the teams five through seven, their head-to-head results were very important to the committee", Hocutt said. Georgia is tops followed by Alabama, then Notre Dame and lastly, Clemson.

Another major criterion, head-to-head result, was manifested by Oklahoma being ranked one spot ahead of Ohio State, which fell to the Sooners 31-16 in Columbus on September 9.

The Badgers are only No. 9 in the CFP rankings. Those rankings had some Sooners wondering if the committee would do something similar.

We say no way, but 12-1 is a different story given where they start. "We were all just jumping around yelling". Alabama has no victory against a CFP top-25 team. "Everybody's hungry. We feel like our foot's in the door, so we want to go ahead and make it happen".

The College Football Playoff Committee raised a few eyebrows on Tuesday night when they ranked Notre Dame 3rd in their first set of rankings over every other 1-loss team and the two unbeatens who have yet to really beat anyone - Miami and Wisconsin. Miami has only two victories against teams with winning records.

Oklahoma, which sits at No. 5, is led by Heisman hopeful Baker Mayfield, who's been a human highlight reel this season under first-year head coach Lincoln Riley. If both arrive 12-0 in Atlanta, and the independent Irish finish 11-1, the SEC championship could be for seeding and the Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference and Pac-12 would be vying for one spot.

Georgia and Alabama are unbeaten and now on course to meet in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. And the newly restored conference title game has to be a rematch. "We've kind of been through the fire, and we're here at 8-0, but we still have a lot of work to do".

For a variety of reasons, including what has gone on in Tallahassee this season, the powers in charge of the ACC are sitting on the edge of their seats hoping that some early season hiccups don't cost the conference the money and bragging rights (mostly, the money) that comes with joining the SEC and Big Ten as the only conferences to send a team each season.